Scuffed

Ran late on this one. It *was* supposed to be two posts. Hope this tides you over until Tuesday. I need to prep more comics since we are going back to Ellie and David. Thanks as always for reading. I know this arc wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I really really had to do this story now because there will be no time later. This builds into Ellie’s next antagonist, and Pumpkin’s birthday.

Tarra is a super narcissist, over-confident, and cripplingly entitled. You had to find this out going in. She’s essentially Ellie if Ellie never got her childishness put in check. Pumpkin, Ellie, and Tarragon are all sides of the same coin. A.. three sided coin. Pumpkin is self-conscious and restrained in her appearance. Tarra, as we’ve seen by her outfits, flaunts it as much as possible for her own gain. Ellie is right in the middle. More moderate, more at ease with who she is.

We know enough about Ellie so far. We had our Pumpkin story. Then we had Tarragon’s. Now we’re going to put them all together.

Worse, he is sitting on the floor. She’s taken the entire couch. That’s just low. I know she just got kicked in the sternum–I’m going to GUESS sternum, anyway–with the fury of a thousand suns, but still. Don’t make a guy sit on the floor.

It could be he’s being a gentleman and letting the injured lady rest. He’d probably put her in an actual bed, but isn’t willing to risk whatever defenses she has set up for guys trying to carry her unconscious into the bedroom.

I took it as him not wanting anything to do with her and that he could sit on the couch and let her lean on him, but he’d rather sit on the floor. Though it’s possible it’s irritation at not being allowed to sit on the couch I’m seeing on his face instead.

The closer we get to the fabled birthday party, the more nervous I am about what Pumpkin will dish out. I’m getting the vibe that her Youngest Child Syndrome is gonna hit its more odious peak at her sweet 16 bash. While Pumpkin will probably get her dose of reality and the metaphorical smack upside the head she needs to get over herself sooner or later, her ego and immaturity will probably be rearing it’s ugly head and it shall not be pretty. It’s gonna be one hell of an arc.

To be honest, we just call it “Bread Co”. Using the words “St. Louis” or “Company” are superfluous waste of energy as it is obvious to anybody in our town what you’re referring to.

Anybody using the name “panera” is an obvious foreigner to our fair city and should be shunned by the community in general.
It would be like going to Pat’s Steaks or Geno’s Steaks in Philly and asking for a cheesesteak with swiss cheese. Blech!!!

Indeed. I can only assume her flight and crash with Zenobia addled her brains, leaving her dumbstruck for Summer’s monologuing & posing, and the altercation with the not-vampire. Not even the braid snagged. I guess the fact that she was conscious & on her feet was enough of an accomplishment? And in other news, a book scan, really? Programming in a variability factor (because swelling is a normal & monthly thing), and not only your sisters but most of the villianous population can now access your hideout. OTOH, this may be how she gets warning of the affliction that alters Sister X’s body.

I can’t be the only person trying to figure that kick out, can I? I mean, it looks like it’s supposed to be a sidekick, but his upper body is too twisted and Tara flying backward, which would imply a front kick, but his body is really far back and twisting and I can see his whole butt.

He might’ve called on the way over, or maybe just feels confident that they’ll accept his reasoning. He has been with them all for over a decade, so he likely feels he has a reasonably good idea of their views/opinions.

I got that same feeling, to be honest. They all tried to warn her before she left, and then Durkin had to leave the wubble wubble to defuse the situation. I would probably be tired of Summer’s shit too.

She did also in theory out the whole group in the absolute worst way to people they are actually scared of. I mean, they have redonk levels of power and they are legit scared of what might show up for them. Summer walked through a number of seemingly high-level assassins and Tara without breaking a sweat. Durkin teleports people into the middle of the ocean on a whim. I expect the government has All Might working for them or something and opening the door like this would probably leave the group with exile being the kindest option.

Being frightened & outclassed by an opponent is not the only reason to avoid their notice. You might also enjoy freely being able to get enough to eat and to sleep soundly at night knowing you don’t have [easy-to-kill-if-you-notice-but-still-potentially-harmful] assassins after you.

So it’s not certain that Gen Nicks’ forces are able to defeat them, but it would be unsurprising if he had enough to whittle them down through attrition and turn the vast majority of the country against them.